While I did enjoy the Animal Collective, Grizzly Bear, Dirty Projectors Brooklin pop explosion, the album I kept coming back to was Two Suns by Bat For Lashes. Apparently, it grew out of the same scene, and it shares some of its hippyish earnest idealism. Yes, some of the lyrics are a bit too arch. And the rip-offs are pretty blatent. But nothing made me feel quite so much as this.

Agree with Warren that Bromst makes perfect working music. Fills you with happy vibes. The summer was dominated by Camera Obscura, as it should be. Autumn was taken up with St. Vincent's new release, Actor, which gets better with every listen. Pretty great year, all in all...

I've got a late mention to add. I've long been a fan of Edinburgh hip-hop's unsung heroes Eaters but their latest offering, Shouting at the Wind, is an absolute masterpiece. A passionate, raw and unflinching hip-hop album that dissects the highs and lows of being a band committed to doing hip-hop properly, who have nonetheless been largely overlooked or misunderstood by the press and public.

Regional hip-hop (I hate the term) never gets a fair crack of the whip - it is routinely ignored in favour of US acts, London acts and indie bands. Yet listening to Shouting at the Wind, I get feelings of tremendous pride, and also of a growing potential within my local scene. These are the writers I look up to, the product of David Lynch, Grant Morrison and Run DMC. I urge you to abandon your preconceptions about Scottish hip-hop, and give this album a chance (it's £5). There were some amazing hip-hop albums this year by the likes of Anti-Pop, Thavius Beck, Juice Aleem... but none of them are as moving, as honest, or as sonically satisfying as this is. After more than a decade in the wilderness, I believe Eaters are becoming a truly important British band, regardless of genre. I've never heard a hip-hop track before that put a lump in my throat, that moved me emotionally... that alone makes this album a phenomenal achievement.

Discovered Mumford and Sons by accident during the year. In London at least their gigs are impossible to get tickets to, however the record is a bit disappointing unless you can poke it through a good bass setup.

Yeah, I don't know why people think that but it's a comment I've heard a few times from people about it. I'm guessing some reviewer in some "scene" rag or site said as much and they've just picked up on it without listening. In fact I'm making Veckatimest my album of the year, just over the others.

The best:Bomb the Music Industry! - Scrambles - Desperate punk/ska/acoustic/electronic/whatever singalong anthems. Too many of these songs seem to be written about me.The Gateway District - Some Days You Get the Thunder - Ex-Soviettes but better than the Soviettes. Scratchy singalong pop-punk with a country tinge.Dear Landlord - Dream Homes - Pure pop-punk perfection.Used Kids - Yeah, No - The Jam, The Exploding Hearts, The Replacements, Chuck Berry and Bruce Springsteen all mashed together in a crazy smorgasbord of sweet rock and roll tunes.

The best of the rest:American Steel - Dear Friends and Gentle HeartsCobra Skulls - American RubiconThe Thermals - Now We Can See The Marked Men - GhostsLucero - 1372 Overton ParkRingers - Hurry Up and WaitThe Bronx - Mariachi El BronxAndrew Jackson Jihad - Can't Maintain

Albums that came out this year that I haven't had a chance to listen to but I'm sure will rule: Delay - Plain Language, Fleshies - Brown Flag

The Decemberists - The Hazards of Love.Fuck Buttons - Tarot Sport.The Mountain Goats - The Life of the World to Come/Moon Colony Bloodbath (with John Vanderslice).Future of the Left - Travels With Myself and Another.Part Chimp - Thriller (Possibly one of the greatest musical moments of my life was watching the launch party for this album).VA - 5: 5 Years of Hyperdub.That Fucking Tank - Tankology.Lightning Bolt - Earthly Delights.HEALTH - Get Color.Frank Tuner - Poetry of the Deed.

most of this year has been about hit tracks i play on repeat. the really good albums have two or more.

Telefon Tel Aviv - Immolate Yourself: "Stay Away From Being Maybe" and then "You Are The Worst Thing In the World"The Field - Yesterday and Today: "Everybody's Got To Learn Sometime", and then the title track and the opener were pretty good, but nothing compared to that track.Tortoise - Beacons of Ancestorship: "Penumbra" - no srsly it's a minute and a half long and i listened to it on repeat for over an hour.SND: the whole friggin' thing.Stimming - Reflections: "Silver Surfer" and then the whole friggin' thing.Micachu - Jewellery: "Just in Case" and then "Turn Me Well" and then "Curly Teeth"Balmorhea: whole friggin' thing.Zu - Carboniferous: "Ostia"Shogun Kunitoki: wft.Dan Deacon - Bromst: "Woof Woof" caught my attention mostBlack Moth Super Rainbow - Eating Us: not the wft, but i can't remember offhand. good times, though.

i have not listened to the new Lightning Bolt or Mercury Program enough to comment, but they're good. and i spent a lot of time listening to 2008 albums, for which i could compile a much more comprehensive list than i did at the beginning of this year. i didn't get down with the lo-fi garage-rock thing this year. Times New Viking sucked last year, and Wavves and Wild Beasts and etc couldn't infuse it with a spark. ambient did okay - the Rameses III album is alright, as is Torngat, Espers, Area C, and the Robin Guthrie EPs i've heard so far. everything Peter Broderick touched (two self-monikered, the Dakota Suite, the Balmorhea) is gold-ish. and i'm slowly working my way through Tune-Yards and Ducktails. i will conquer them, dammit.and now, to find that Part Chimp album!

Fire on Fire - The OrchardMichael J. Sheehy and the Hired Mourners - With these Hands (the rise and fall of Francis Delaney)A Storm of Light - Forgive Us our TrespassesTrisomie 21 - Black LabelPiano Magic - Ovations (It sounds and feels like Dead Can Dance, and the guy from Dead Can Dance sings on it too, but I guess I missed that kind of sound)Sieben - As They Should SoundAlela Diane - To Be Still, and Alela & AlinaJames Blackshaw - The Glass Bead GameVuk - The PlainsDoomriders - Darkness Comes Alive

2009 has been a bit of a fallow year for me musically - hip-hop died (in my eyes) a few years ago and other than 70's funk/soul that's about all I listen to..

That being said, I am loving the Kid Koala/Wolfmother rhythm section collabo - The Slew: 100%. Basically KK and Diomond D recorded a bunch of Rock guitar riffs, drums and horns, made them all nice and dirty by using old-school recording tricks like oil-can delay, spring reverb, tape delay and so on, and then cut them onto vinyl where they could cut/pasted/transformed and juggled into new tracks...

Fierce and chunky are two words I've seen used to describe the resultant sound, some of the tracks are a bit like being beaten around the head..Straight up my alley.

Felt- Felt 3 (A Tribute to Rosie Perez) - Slug and Murs together are always great, and usually, in my opinion, better than they are solo. This time Aesop Rock produced the entire album, and it really shows- his production is so different from 9th Wonder or Ant's. Check it out.

The Hope Consipiracy- True Nihilist EP- Only a three song EP of matieral from their upcoming release, but god damn if I haven't listened to those three songs more than almost anything from this year. Hope Con are the best band in hardcore at the moment and this release makes me salivate for the full lenth.

MF DOOM- Born Like This- Doom is always solid, but this release suffers from the same thing all of albums do- his attitude toward homosexuals. I want to like this album so much more than I do but one song on it always leaves a sour taste in my mouth. That bullshit gay-bashing is one of the things that keeps me away from main-stream hip-hop I can do without it in the indy shit I listen to.

@sneak046: Re: hip-hop dying... it's like dead X-Men, they always come back. The popular hip-hop of the last few years has been godawful though, agreed. Also, I've got an interview with Kid Koala about Slew coming up on my site. Keep an eye out in the next few days. KK is always a really good interviewer, guy's a funny mothercrusher.

HATRED SURGE-black box 7" (easily their best material!)DEAR LANDLORD-dream homes lp (drink.sing along.grow a beard. amazing pop punk)FAILURES-s/t 7" (four minutes of insane japanese influenced hardcore filtered through will killingsworths pedals, spewing out of mark mccoys mouth)CONVERGE-axe to fall 12" (their best record since JANE DOE, hands down. opening track is a fucking blender to the face)RINGERS-hurry up and wait 12" ep (jangly poppy awesomeness. too bad its only seven songs)HATRED SURGE-deconstruct 12" (i will list whatever i want. this band kills.)LAWRENCE ARMS-buttsweat and tears 7" (2 of these 4 songs are among the best theyve EVER released. so sad, so lonely, so cheerful, so hopeful. "this high life is running at full steam, comon everyone and live the high life with me" not recommended for sXe folk: booze consumption is almost mandatory)IRON LUNG/PIG HEART TRANSPLANT/WALLS collab live 12" ( i still havent fully processed this, but holy god is it great. its opressive and a chore to listen to in the best way possible)RUN WITH THE HUNTED-destory all calendars 12" one sided ep (better than every other metallic modern hardcore band i heard/saw this year. gorgeous record, too)

honorable mention: the a-side of PROPAGANDHIs supporting caste album. (i think the b side loses a lot of steam.), also the new GET DESTROYED 7", burnt offering. it hasnt hit distros yet but i have heard the songs live multiple times and this fucker is gonna SMOKE the needle off your turntable.

@SteadyUP No problem. I feel like the 8 Bit Album is something every Weezer fan worth their geek cred should hear. :-)

I also have to add Polka Dot Dot Dot's second album to my list. I'm listening to it right now, and it's completely blowing me away. Their first album was lovely and strange, and this is a step up ever from that. Just fucking breathtakingly gorgeous. Goddamn. I don't know if I've ever had a song almost make me cry simply for being pretty, but "You're On The Phone" i doing that right now.